Mark Winterbottom moved into the lead of the V8 Supercars Championship with back-to-back race victories on Saturday at Barbagallo.
The Pepsi Max Ford driver again made the best of the start before pulling away from Jamie Whincup to lead every one of the 25 laps.
Whincup struggled for pace throughout but still managed to hold off Fabian Coulthard, Chaz Mostert and Craig Lowndes to secure second.
Winterbottom now leads Whincup in the championship by a single point after eight races.
“That was awesome; the car was really good,” said Winterbottom.
“It’s nice to be on pole and use your speed. The boys tuned her up in the gap between races and it was really nice.”
Despite a number of close battles, passes again proved few and far between among the top 10 as drivers concentrated on making their tyres live for the entire 60km journey.
Scott McLaughlin’s rough season continued when he, after running 14th early, was forced into retirement with a throttle problem.
Countryman Shane van Gisbergen meanwhile came home last after re-using his tyre set from the earlier race in order to save an extra set for Sunday.
Teams will run both the hard and soft compound tyres during tomorrow’s 200km race, which will conclude the UBET Perth Super Sprint.
Result: V8 Supercars Race 8, Barbagallo
| 1 | Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 25 | 24:34.8717 |
| 2 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:37.7903 |
| 3 | Freightliner Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:38.1228 |
| 4 | Pepsi Max Crew | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 25 | 24:38.5186 |
| 5 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:39.5597 |
| 6 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:39.7903 |
| 7 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG/X | 25 | 24:42.1443 |
| 8 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 25 | 24:46.2479 |
| 9 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 25 | 24:46.5647 |
| 10 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:47.2543 |
| 11 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:47.5371 |
| 12 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 25 | 24:50.0219 |
| 13 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:50.7590 |
| 14 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:52.0018 |
| 15 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 25 | 24:52.4845 |
| 16 | Super Black Racing | Andre Heimgartner | Ford Falcon FG/X | 25 | 24:52.7586 |
| 17 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 24:56.3100 |
| 18 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Ashley Walsh | Mercedes E63 AMG | 25 | 25:00.0125 |
| 19 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 25:02.1554 |
| 20 | Nissan Motorsport | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 25 | 25:04.0556 |
| 21 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 25 | 25:06.6959 |
| 22 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 25 | 25:06.9178 |
| 23 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 25:20.6363 |
| 24 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 25 | 25:34.4890 |
| DNF | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 11 | 11:13.2711 |
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